Standing Hip Abduction

Muscles worked by the Standing Hip Abduction

Primary

AbductorsHip AbductorsGlute MediusGluteus Medius

Secondary

GlutesGluteus MaximusQuadratus Lumborum

Also called: hip abductors, outer thigh, abductor muscles, glute med, gluteus medius, side glute.

Equipment

No equipment — this is a bodyweight exercise.

How to do the Standing Hip Abduction

1. Stand tall with your hands on your hips and your feet close together.
2. Shift your weight onto one leg and keep that knee slightly bent.
3. Lift the other leg straight out to the side, keeping the toes pointing forward and your trunk upright.
4. Raise the leg only as high as you can without leaning your upper body away from it.
5. Lower the leg slowly back next to the standing foot.
6. Complete the planned repetitions, then repeat on the other leg.

Form tips

• Keep your hips square and your trunk still; leaning away from the lifted leg takes the work away from the hip.
• Move with control on the way down as well; do not let the leg swing.
• Hold on to a wall or a chair if you cannot stay balanced; add a loop band around your thighs once the movement is easy.

At a glance

Standing Hip Abduction in German & Spanish

Descriptions, instructions and tips ship in all three languages in the JSON.

Related exercises

• Banded Clamshell
• Banded Fire Hydrant
• Banded Seated Hip Abduction
• Banded Standing Hip Abduction
• Banded Sumo Walk
• Clamshell Hold
• Clamshells
• Fire Hydrant

Exercise data (JSON)

The record below is exactly what exercises.json ships for this exercise — names, descriptions, instructions and tips in English, German and Spanish.

{
  "id": "standing-hip-abduction",
  "name_en": "Standing Hip Abduction",
  "name_de": "Stehende Hüftabduktion",
  "name_es": "Abducción de Cadera de Pie",
  "description_en": "A bodyweight leg raise to the side while standing on the other leg. It trains the gluteus medius on the side of the lifted leg and, on the standing leg, the muscles that keep your hips level.",
  "description_de": "Ein seitliches Beinheben mit dem Körpergewicht im Stand auf dem anderen Bein. Sie trainiert den Gluteus medius auf der Seite des gehobenen Beins und am Standbein die Muskeln, die deine Hüfte waagerecht halten.",
  "description_es": "Una elevación lateral de pierna con el peso del cuerpo, de pie sobre la otra pierna. Trabaja el glúteo medio del lado de la pierna elevada y, en la pierna de apoyo, los músculos que mantienen las caderas niveladas.",
  "category": "strength",
  "force_type": "push",
  "mechanic": "isolation",
  "difficulty": "beginner",
  "body_part": "upper_legs",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "abductors",
    "gluteus_medius"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "gluteus_maximus",
    "quadratus_lumborum"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "hypertrophy",
    "rehabilitation"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "leg_day",
    "glute_focus",
    "knee_safe",
    "no_axial_load",
    "lower_back_safe",
    "shoulder_safe"
  ],
  "variation_group": "hip-abduction",
  "is_unilateral": true,
  "is_bodyweight": true,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Stand tall with your hands on your hips and your feet close together.",
    "Shift your weight onto one leg and keep that knee slightly bent.",
    "Lift the other leg straight out to the side, keeping the toes pointing forward and your trunk upright.",
    "Raise the leg only as high as you can without leaning your upper body away from it.",
    "Lower the leg slowly back next to the standing foot.",
    "Complete the planned repetitions, then repeat on the other leg."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Stelle dich aufrecht hin, die Hände an der Hüfte und die Füße eng beieinander.",
    "Verlagere dein Gewicht auf ein Bein und halte dieses Knie leicht gebeugt.",
    "Hebe das andere Bein gestreckt seitlich an, die Zehen zeigen nach vorn und der Oberkörper bleibt aufrecht.",
    "Hebe das Bein nur so hoch, wie du kannst, ohne den Oberkörper von ihm weg zu neigen.",
    "Senke das Bein langsam zurück neben den Standfuß.",
    "Führe die geplante Anzahl an Wiederholungen aus und wiederhole dann mit dem anderen Bein."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Ponte erguido con las manos en las caderas y los pies juntos.",
    "Pasa el peso a una pierna y mantén esa rodilla ligeramente flexionada.",
    "Eleva la otra pierna estirada hacia el lado, con las puntas de los pies hacia delante y el tronco erguido.",
    "Sube la pierna solo hasta donde puedas sin inclinar la parte superior del cuerpo en sentido contrario.",
    "Baja la pierna despacio hasta colocarla junto al pie de apoyo.",
    "Completa el número de repeticiones previsto y repite con la otra pierna."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Keep your hips square and your trunk still; leaning away from the lifted leg takes the work away from the hip.",
    "Move with control on the way down as well; do not let the leg swing.",
    "Hold on to a wall or a chair if you cannot stay balanced; add a loop band around your thighs once the movement is easy."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Halte die Hüfte gerade und den Oberkörper ruhig; wenn du dich vom gehobenen Bein weg neigst, nimmt das die Arbeit von der Hüfte.",
    "Bewege dich auch beim Absenken kontrolliert; lass das Bein nicht schwingen.",
    "Halte dich an einer Wand oder einem Stuhl fest, wenn du das Gleichgewicht nicht halten kannst; lege ein Loop-Band um die Oberschenkel, sobald die Bewegung leicht ist."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "Mantén las caderas rectas y el tronco quieto; inclinarte en sentido contrario a la pierna elevada quita trabajo a la cadera.",
    "Controla también el movimiento de bajada; no dejes que la pierna se balancee.",
    "Agárrate a una pared o a una silla si no logras mantener el equilibrio; añade una banda elástica alrededor de los muslos cuando el movimiento te resulte fácil."
  ],
  "met": 3.5,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "start": "images/flat/standing-hip-abduction-start.webp",
      "peak": "images/flat/standing-hip-abduction-peak.webp"
    }
  }
}

Fetch just this exercise

const { exercises } = await fetch(
  "https://exercise-dataset.com/exercises.json"
).then(r => r.json());
const ex = exercises.find(e => e.id === "standing-hip-abduction");

Free for personal and commercial in-app use with attribution (“Exercise data by RepDB”) — see the license and ready-made attribution snippets. Redistributing the data as a dataset or API is not permitted.